Improvement in shirts



ing drawings,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ABRAI-IAll/I DREY, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

IMPROVEMENT IN sHflaTs'.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 40,026, dated September 22, 1863.

To all whom tt may concern:

Be it known that I, ABRAHAM DREY, of Baltimore city and county, State of Maryland, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Shirts; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanymaking a part of this specification, in whichl Figure l is a front view of my improved shirt, showing the lapels turned back and fastened toexpose the plaited bosom. Fig. 2 shows the lapels united so asv to cover the bosom.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the two figures.

The object of my invention is to make shirts which can be furnished very cheap, and which will present a very handsome appearance when on the person, a shirt which may be made of any kind of fabricsuch as linen, cot- .ton, or Woolen, or any two or all of these fabrics combined-and a shirt which will have a double bosom, the outer bosom being made so as to form, when closed, a very neat and comfortable covering and a protection for the inner bosom, and when open present the appearance of the lapels of a vest, all as will be hereinafter described.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe it.

In the manufacture of my improved shirts I do not propose to deviate from the present styles or fashions of cutting and iittin g these garments, excepting` that in some instances the front part or bosom of the shirt will not be cut away. Vhen this is the case, the body of the shirt and the sleeves may be made of the very eoarsest and cheapest material to be had in the market, and instead of cutting awaythe front part of the shirt to insert a bosom in its stead, a slit is cut from the neck down the center of the front part of the shirt a suitable distance, so as to form two-aps or lapels, a a., Figs. l and 2 of the drawings. These lapels c are then lined inside, as far as they extend, with some suitable fabric of a neat pattern, and they may also be covered outside with a similar or a different fabric; The edges of these lapels may be covered with a binding, and outside of one lapel a row of buttons may be sewed, giving to the lapels all the appearance of those of a vest when opened, as in Fig. 1.

On the outside edge of one ot' the flaps or lapels a hook, b, or other suitable device is attached for the purpose of connecting the two edges of the lapels together when they are closed, as shown in Fig. 2; and when these lapels are opened or folded back, as in Fig. 1, their corners are kept back by buttoning them on buttons c c on each side of the shirt-bosom. A

Having thus completed the lapels, I close the bosom of the shirt by a plaited bosom, d, which is sewed inside of the shirt and left open in front, to be buttoned up in the usual manner of an ordinary shirt. The shirt-band e is now sewed around the neck of the shirt and that portion of the neck formed by the plaited bosom, and the shirt is finished in the usual manner. When I make shirts in this way-that is, with the lapels formed of a part lof the shirt-body-I cover these lapels to hide the material of which the shirt is made, and to give the shirt the appearance of being made of the finest material I can insert into the bosom of a common shirt a very fine bosom made of good linen or other suitable fabric, for when the shirt is on the person the bosom and the lapels will be the only parts in sight.

The lapels are applied for several reasons. They imitate avest when the coat is buttoned or even when it is not buttoned, and they are used to cover the shirt-bosom b for keeping it clean, and also for protection against the weather. When the lapels are closed over the inner bosom, by covering them on the outside with some neat fabric another bosom is formed, presenting somewhat the appearance represented by Fig. 2. This outer bosom or lapels may be braided or ornamented in any manner to suit the fancy.

Instead ot' making the lapels a a of one piece with the body of the shirt, they may be made of a different material from that-of the shirt-bod y, and sewed to the front of the shirt, so as to give the same appearance and to possess the same advantages as the lapels above described 5 and where the lapels are sewed to the bosom of the shirt the shirt-boson1 may be made ot' the same material as the shirtbody or of a different material, so that the continuation of the lapels, and can be turned down or up, as circumstances may require.

Having thus'described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

A double-bosom shirt, when composed of an inner bosom, d, and outer flaps or lapels, a a, substantially as and for the purposes described.

Witness my hand in the matter ot' my application for a patent on a new double-breasted shirt this 4th day of September, 1863.

ABRAHAM DREY.

Witnesses:

Ronin. W. FENWICK, M. BRUBAKER. 

